Geneticist

People are like snowflakes: Each one is completely unique and individual, yet they’re all made of the same stuff.

In snowflakes, that stuff is water. In people, however, it’s DNA, which is 99.9 percent identical in all human beings. When you’re a Geneticist, therefore, you spend your time analyzing the 0.1 percent of DNA that’s unique.

Sometimes a Scientist and sometimes a Doctor — and oftentimes both — a Geneticist studies heredity, which means you’re interested not only in what that DNA does, but also in when, how and why it’s passed on. That’s important because children don’t just inherit hair and eye color; they also inherit diseases and disorders. Because genetics impacts pregnancy and birth, for instance, a Geneticist might diagnose and treat genetic causes of infertility and miscarriage, or offer genetic counseling to help parents assess and minimize the risk of passing on disorders to their offspring.

Because genetics can similarly impact diseases like cancer and conditions like baldness, you’re frequently involved in genetic research, working in laboratories to analyze DNA samples and experiment with them, your goal being to isolate the genes responsible for certain diseases and then develop gene therapies to treat them.

Of course, people aren’t the only things that pass on their DNA. Plants and animals do, too. If you don’t work in health care or research, therefore, you might work in agriculture or zoology, helping to breed better crops and healthier wildlife.

Regardless: People, pets or produce, you’re paid to improve life on earth — one microscopic cell at a time.